David Wahl on Creativity and Marketing

Meaning, Metaphor and Magic

I posted before about making a magic object to help you with your creativity and work, but today I was thinking about all the magic in the objects already around us. Not every object has the same amount of magic, but you know the ones that are meaningful to you. Maybe it’s something an old friend gave you to remember them by or a trophy of a great success in your life or a picture of you with a famous person. You know the kinds of things I’m talking about. Generally they have a low dollar value, but you’d miss them the most if they were gone.

What if these things had real Harry-Potter-Lord -of-the-Rings magic powers? That handkerchief you took from your grandmother’s house the day she died. Would it have healing powers? Would it protect you from demons? Would it make cookies appear whenever you wanted one?

The connection between the magic of these items and their powers is the root of the energy of metaphor that powers everything you create. Their meaning is part of you and examining them is like being able to look at yourself from the outside.

So, find that cigar box of mementos you keep or dust off your nick knack shelf and go through them one by one. Hold them in your hand and ask yourself what spell it would cast if it could? What power does it contain?

This is the raw force of creativity at work, the discovery of connections between seemingly disconnected objects and yourself. You’ll get a better understanding of your needs and wants and emotional underpinnings.

What do you keep? What does it mean?

In fact, why limit it to what you own? Look at other objects in the world and ask what magic powers they would have. A pair of Houdini’s handcuffs or a handwritten page from one of Shakespeare’s plays or a piece of the Berlin wall? It all has power inside and recognizing it will allow you to control it.

Plus it’s fun. So, even if you get nothing from it, you’ll have a good time. Oh, and they don’t really have magic powers, so don’t get any bright ideas that your grandfather’s walking cane can really make you invisible. It’s just that your grandfather made you feel invisible when you were around him because he was such a powerful man. You can’t walk around naked in public just because you’re holding a cane.